In 2001, Pine Bluff native, actress Mary Mouser began acting as a hobby, serving as Abigail Breslin’s photo double in Signs, a sci-fi horror film starring Mel Gibson. Since pursuing acting as a career, Mouser has acted on numerous popular films and television shows including NCIS, Body of Proof, Scandal, Frenemies, Alexander and Terrible, Horrible, No Good, and Very Bad Day, and popular Netflix series Cobra Kai.
Image Credit: IMDb.com
Mary Matilyn Mouser was born on May 9, 1996, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, to Scott and Tina Mouser. In 2001, at the age of five, she began acting as a hobby. She was cast as Abigail Breslin’s photo double in Signs, the M. Night Shyamalan sci-fi horror film which starred Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix, which grossed 72 million dollars in 2002.
In 2004, she guest starred on the CBS primetime procedural drama Without A Trace, starring Anthony LaPaglia and Poppy Montgomery. In 2005, her career took off as she guest starred on several popular television shows, including Scrubs, Monk, Inconceivable, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and The King of Queens. During this time, Mouser also began voice acting, lending her voice to popular movies, including Son of the Mask, Adventures in Odyssey, Tarzan 2: The Legend Begins, and video games like Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. In 2005, she also voiced a character in the English version of the animated Japanese film Pom Poko.
In 2006, she received her first lead role as the voice of the titular character Eloise in Eloise: The Animated Series. In October 2006, she received the Outstanding Performance Award at the KIDS FIRST! Film and Video Festival at the Los Angeles International Children’s Film Festival for her role in the series.
In 2007, she was the child lead, Sarah Cricket Cummings, in the Hallmark film A Stranger’s Heart. In 2006, Mouser received her first movie role, playing Christine Pastore in Mr. Fix It, starring David Boreanaz and Alana De La Garza.
Mouser frequently did voice acting in films and videogames like Holly Hobbie and Friends: Christmas Wishes (2006), Dragon Hunters (2008), Delgo (2008), Bride Wars (2009), The Hole (2009), and The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest (2010).
From 2007 to 2008, she was a series regular, playing Mia Weller in the CW series Life Is Wild for 13 episodes. From 2005 to 2010, Mouser had a recurring role on the long-running naval investigative crime series NCIS as the main character, Leroy Jethro Gibbs' daughter Kelly. From 2011 to 2013, she starred in 36 episodes of the ABC medical drama Body of Proof as Dana Delany's daughter, Lacey Fleming. In 2012, Mouser played two separate characters, look-a-likes Savannah O’Neal and Emma Reynolds in the Disney Channel Original movie Frenemies, starring Zendaya and Bella Thorne. In 2014, she appeared alongside Steve Carrell and Jennifer Garner in the comedy Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good,Very Bad Day.
In 2018, Mouser received her biggest role, playing high school karate student Samantha (Sam) LaRusso, in the Cobra Kai series. Cobra Kai is a spin-off of The Karate Kid film starring Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita. It was initially launched by YouTube Premium but was later picked up by the streaming giant Netflix. As part of the main cast, Mouser had to learn Muay Thai, a martial art form, for her role in the series.
In 2009, Mouser was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. She advocates for type 1 diabetes and works actively with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), the world’s largest nonprofit funder of type 1 diabetes research. She has also spoken at JDRF events and attended walks for a cure to help fund the charity.
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Written by: Ninfa O. Barnard
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